ChatGPT answers, unedited

If your main goal is finding wasted spend, budget drains, and poor-performing keywords in a Google Ads account, I’d shortlist these:

My pick: Optmyzr

For the specific job you described, Optmyzr is probably the strongest fit. Its tools can identify keywords spending above acceptable CPA thresholds, keywords with significant spend but no conversions, and non-converting search queries. It can also analyze projected vs. actual budget spend and help identify campaigns that are constrained by budget. Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization Optmyzr Help Optmyzr Help

Its Negative Keyword Finder is particularly relevant: it analyzes search-term data and identifies words/queries that are consuming spend without producing useful results. Optmyzr Help

Adalysis is the other one I'd seriously consider

If what you want is more of an "audit this entire account and show me what's wrong" workflow, Adalysis may actually be easier to start with. It runs 100+ automated checks and specifically flags wasted spend from underperforming keywords, search terms, locations, and placements. Adalysis Adalysis

It also has a free Google Ads audit that reports wasted spend, poorly converting keywords, quality-score issues, and account-structure problems. Adalysis

What I'd use for a budget-drain audit

Regardless of software, I'd want the tool to surface at least these five buckets:

1. Keywords with high spend + zero conversions
2. Keywords with CPA substantially above account/campaign target
3. Search queries that are irrelevant or low-intent
4. Campaigns burning budget while producing poor conversion value
5. Budget being allocated to weaker campaigns while stronger campaigns are budget constrained

And importantly, don't automatically pause every keyword with no conversions. Low-volume keywords can look terrible statistically. The useful analysis is spend relative to the account's expected conversion rate/CPA and enough data to make the conclusion meaningful.

Bottom line:

• Optmyzr → best if you want diagnosis + automated optimization.
• Adalysis → best if you primarily want a systematic PPC audit and alerts.
• Google Ads alone → sufficient if you just need a basic manual waste-spend analysis.

If you tell me monthly ad spend (e.g. $10k, $50k, $500k), Google Search vs. PMax, and whether you're optimizing for leads or ecommerce revenue, I can narrow this down to the most appropriate tool and workflow.

Adalysis is the other one I'd seriously consider

If what you want is more of an "audit this entire account and show me what's wrong" workflow, Adalysis may actually be easier to start with. It runs 100+ automated checks and specifically flags wasted spend from underperforming keywords, search terms, locations, and placements.

It also has a free Google Ads audit that reports wasted spend, poorly converting keywords, quality-score issues, and account-structure problems.

What I'd use for a budget-drain audit

Regardless of software, I'd want the tool to surface at least these five buckets:

If your main goal is finding budget leaks and poor-performing keywords/search terms in a Google Ads account, I’d narrow the field to these:

1. Optmyzr — strongest all-around fit

Optmyzr is particularly well suited to what you described. It can identify:

• Search terms spending money without producing conversions
• Expensive/low-performing keywords
• Irrelevant search queries that should become negative keywords
• Budget-pacing problems and campaigns constrained by budget
• Campaigns where budget could potentially be reallocated
• Performance changes down to individual keywords/search terms

It also supports automated rules, so you can move from "find the waste" → "automatically prevent it." Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization

optmyzr.com

2. Adalysis — particularly good for auditing

Adalysis is worth looking at if your primary use case is continuous account auditing rather than managing lots of different ad platforms. It focuses heavily on automated audits, budget control, ad testing, and identifying issues that need attention. Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization Software Advice

adalysis.com

3. Google Ads + a custom audit — surprisingly viable

If you're only managing one or a few accounts, you may not need a paid platform. Google's own search-term, keyword, campaign, conversion and budget data can be exported and analyzed with a custom audit.

For example, I'd flag:

For your specific wording, I'd start with Optmyzr. Its current tooling is explicitly designed around finding wasted search-term spend, keyword opportunities, budget pacing, and reallocating spend. Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization

If you tell me monthly ad spend (e.g. $5k, $50k, $500k), Google-only vs. Google + Meta, and whether you want just an audit or automatic optimization, I can narrow this down to the most appropriate tool and approximate cost.

If your main goal is “scan the account, find where money is leaking, and flag bad keywords/search terms”, I’d shortlist these:

1. Optmyzr — my first choice

Optmyzr is probably the strongest fit if you want software that doesn't merely give you an audit PDF, but actually finds waste and recommends actions.

It can identify:

• Search terms spending money without converting
• Expensive keywords that should be paused/reduced
• Negative-keyword opportunities
• Budget allocation problems
• Campaigns overspending or underspending
• Poor-performing ads
• Opportunities to move budget toward better campaigns
• Search-query patterns that look relevant but produce poor results

Its 2026 tools specifically include a Budget Dashboard, budget reallocation, non-converting-query detection, and keyword optimization. Optmyzr Help Center Optmyzr Help Center Optmyzr Help Center

optmyzr.com

Best if: you're managing meaningful ad spend and want an ongoing optimization system rather than a one-time audit.

2. Adalysis — best if you want a very clear “what's wrong?” dashboard

Adalysis is especially good for the exact problem you're describing.

It has dedicated budget, keyword, search-term, Quality Score, bid and alerting functionality. Its keyword tools can surface duplicate search terms, negative-keyword conflicts and query patterns; its budget tools identify pacing issues and opportunities to scale. Adalysis

It also emphasizes prebuilt alerts, which makes it attractive if you don't want to spend hours constructing your own rules. Adalysis

adalysis.com

Best if: you want to log in and quickly see “here are the things costing you money.”

3. TrueClicks — worth considering for a pure audit

If you primarily want account health/audit rather than campaign-management automation, TrueClicks is worth putting on the shortlist. A recent 2026 comparison specifically ranks it as a purpose-built account-health auditor, alongside Adalysis and Optmyzr. PipeRocket Digital

What I'd choose

For your specific wording — “identify budget drains and poor performing keywords” — I'd rank them:

Optmyzr > Adalysis > TrueClicks > Opteo > Semrush

The distinction is important:

• Want an automated PPC manager: Optmyzr
• Want an excellent diagnostic/alerting system: Adalysis
• Want an audit specialist: TrueClicks
• Want something simpler: Opteo
• Want competitor/keyword research too: Semrush

One particularly useful Optmyzr feature is its ability to identify high-cost, non-converting search queries and turn them into negative-keyword actions rather than making you manually sift through the Search Terms Report. Optmyzr Help Center Optmyzr Help Center

If you tell me your monthly ad spend (e.g. $5k, $50k, $500k) and whether it's Google Ads only or Google + Microsoft/Meta, I can narrow this to the best 2–3 tools and tell you which one is likely to pay for itself fastest.

It has dedicated budget, keyword, search-term, Quality Score, bid and alerting functionality. Its keyword tools can surface duplicate search terms, negative-keyword conflicts and query patterns; its budget tools identify pacing issues and opportunities to scale. Adalysis

It also emphasizes prebuilt alerts, which makes it attractive if you don't want to spend hours constructing your own rules. Adalysis

adalysis.com

Best if: you want to log in and quickly see “here are the things costing you money.”

3. TrueClicks — worth considering for a pure audit

If you primarily want account health/audit rather than campaign-management automation, TrueClicks is worth putting on the shortlist. A recent 2026 comparison specifically ranks it as a purpose-built account-health auditor, alongside Adalysis and Optmyzr. piperocket.digital

What I'd choose

For your specific wording — “identify budget drains and poor performing keywords” — I'd rank them:

Optmyzr > Adalysis > TrueClicks > Opteo > Semrush

The distinction is important:

If your main goal is finding budget drains and poor-performing keywords in Google Ads, I’d shortlist these:

1. Optmyzr — best overall

optmyzr.com is probably my first choice if you're managing a meaningful account.

It can specifically identify non-converting/expensive keywords, reduce bids on expensive keywords, find non-converting search queries, and help reallocate budgets toward better-performing campaigns. It also has budget pacing and alerts. Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization Optmyzr Help Center Optmyzr Help Center

A particularly useful feature is its Search Term–Keyword Similarity analysis, which scores how closely actual search queries match the intent of your keywords. That's useful for finding seemingly relevant searches that are quietly wasting money. Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization

I'd choose Optmyzr if: you want the software not just to tell you what's wrong, but to help you systematically fix it.

2. Adalysis — best pure audit tool

adalysis.com is excellent if you want a "scan my account and show me where the money is leaking" workflow.

It runs 100+ automated checks and specifically flags things like:

• Underperforming keywords
• Expensive search terms
• Wasted spend
• Poor-performing locations/placements
• Sudden spend increases
• Conversion/revenue declines
• Missing negative keywords
• Quality Score issues

Adalysis AdalysisIts n-gram analysis is particularly good for finding recurring words/phrases in search queries that generate lots of spend but few conversions—often a very efficient way to uncover negative-keyword opportunities. Adalysis Docs

It also offers a free Google Ads audit, so I'd actually start there if you want to evaluate an existing account before paying for software. Adalysis

My recommendation

If you're asking "What should I install/connect right now to find wasted Google Ads spend?"

Start with Adalysis. Its audit is purpose-built for exactly this problem.

If you then want ongoing monitoring, automated rules, bid/budget optimization, and management across multiple accounts, move to Optmyzr.

One important distinction: don't only look for keywords with high CPA. A good audit should also examine search terms, match types, conversion volume, impression share, Quality Score, campaign budgets, locations, devices, times of day, and lead quality. Otherwise you can accidentally pause keywords that look bad in isolation but are valuable to the account overall.

If you tell me Google Ads vs. Microsoft Ads, monthly spend, and whether you're lead-gen or ecommerce, I can give you a much more specific recommendation (including which audit rules I'd configure first).

If your main goal is “scan the account, find where money is leaking, and surface bad keywords/search terms”, I’d shortlist these:

My picks

1. optmyzr.com — best overall

• Excellent for systematic PPC audits and ongoing optimization.
• Specifically identifies non-converting keywords, expensive keywords, poor search queries, negative-keyword opportunities, duplicate keywords, and low-Quality-Score keywords. Optmyzr Help Center Optmyzr Help Center
• Its budget tools can flag overspending/underspending and help reallocate budget based on performance. Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization
• Particularly strong if you're managing multiple accounts or substantial spend.
• Bonus: its newer MCP integration can let AI analyze live Google Ads data down to the keyword/search-term level. Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization
• adalysis.com — best for automated account auditing

• Probably the one I'd test first if you want a “tell me what's wrong” dashboard.
• Runs 100+ daily audit checks, prioritizes issues, and can alert you to underperforming keywords/search terms, sudden spend increases, budget problems, poor placements, etc. Adalysis Adalysis
• Its keyword tools specifically surface search terms that are wasting budget without conversions and potential negatives. Adalysis
• Strong automation/rules if you eventually want the software to take action rather than just report problems.
• Google Ads itself — best free starting point

• Don't overlook the native Search terms, Insights, Recommendations, change history, and keyword reports.
• For a single account, you can build a surprisingly good waste scan without paying for another platform.
• The limitation is that you're doing more of the diagnosis yourself, whereas Optmyzr/Adalysis turn the raw data into prioritized opportunities.

What I'd choose

For your specific wording—“identify budget drains and poor-performing keywords”—I'd start with Optmyzr. Its Pause Non-Converting Keywords, Find Expensive Keywords, and Negative Keyword Finder tools map almost exactly to what you're trying to uncover. Optmyzr Help Center Optmyzr Help Center Optmyzr Help Center

One important caveat: don't automatically pause every keyword with zero conversions. A keyword can look terrible in isolation but be valuable when judged on conversion value, assisted conversions, lead quality, margin, or insufficient sample size. The better tools let you set meaningful thresholds rather than simply doing “0 conversions = kill.”

If you tell me Google Ads vs. Microsoft Ads, monthly spend, and whether it's lead gen or ecommerce, I can narrow this down to the 2–3 best tools and the exact audit rules I'd run first.

If your main goal is “scan the account, find where money is leaking, and tell me which keywords/search terms are dragging performance down,” I’d shortlist these:

My pick: Adalysis

adalysis.com is probably the closest match to what you're describing.

It runs 100+ automated audit checks and specifically flags things such as underperforming keywords, search terms, locations and placements, as well as sudden spending increases and conversion drops. It also has budget monitoring, forecasting, root-cause analysis and keyword/negative-keyword tools. Adalysis Adalysis

The particularly useful workflow would be:

1. Connect the Google Ads account.
2. Run the audit.
3. Sort issues by financial impact, rather than simply by number of errors.
4. Look for: - High spend + zero conversions
5. High CPA keywords
6. Search terms consuming budget without producing conversions
7. Keywords with poor conversion rates versus campaign/account averages
8. Broad-match terms generating irrelevant traffic
9. Duplicate/cannibalizing keywords
10. Poor Quality Score
11. Campaigns spending faster than their targets
12. Locations/devices/times consuming disproportionate spend
13. Turn the findings into negatives, pauses, bid changes, budget reallocations, etc.

When I'd choose Optmyzr instead

optmyzr.com is my choice if you're managing multiple accounts or substantial spend and want the software to go beyond identifying problems and actually automate the fixes.

Its PPC Investigator can drill down to the keyword, device and other granular levels, while its budget tools monitor pacing and its search-term analysis is designed to identify relevant-looking queries that are nevertheless wasting money. Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization

Optmyzr also supports Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, Amazon and Meta, whereas Adalysis focuses on Google and Microsoft. Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization

The simple decision

• “Audit my Google Ads account and show me where I'm wasting money.” → Adalysis
• “Audit it, diagnose why performance changed, and automate ongoing optimization.” → Optmyzr
• “Give me a rigorous account-health audit.” → TrueClicks
• “I'm a smaller advertiser and want something easier.” → Opteo

One important distinction: don't confuse a keyword research tool with an account-audit tool. Something like Semrush can be excellent for discovering keywords and competitor opportunities, but it isn't the first thing I'd buy specifically to uncover existing budget leakage inside your account.

If you tell me roughly monthly ad spend, Google vs. Microsoft, lead-gen vs. ecommerce, and number of accounts, I can narrow this to the best 1–2 tools and tell you exactly what I'd use to find the wasted spend.

If your goal is to scan a Google Ads account, find budget leaks, and identify poor-performing keywords/search terms, these are the strongest options depending on your situation:

My shortlist by use case

If you spend under ~$10k/month

• Opteo — easiest for finding obvious leaks and getting prioritized fixes.
• Keyword Ninja — particularly useful if your biggest problem is wasted clicks from irrelevant searches and bad search terms. Keyword Ninja Keyword Ninja
• WordStream Performance Grader — good free starting point, but more of a snapshot than a full optimization system. NotFair

If you spend $10k–$100k+/month

• Optmyzr — better when you need repeatable processes across many campaigns/accounts.
• Adalysis — strong when you want ongoing monitoring and testing rather than just a one-time audit. PipeRocket Digital

If you mainly want “show me where my money is leaking”

Look for tools that specifically analyze:

• Search terms with clicks but zero conversions
• Keywords spending above a CPA threshold
• Broad match waste
• Poor Quality Score keywords
• Campaigns consuming budget without conversion value
• Device/location/daypart waste
• Conversion tracking problems
• Negative keyword gaps

Several newer AI audit tools focus specifically on ranking wasted spend by estimated dollar impact rather than just producing a checklist. AdBot Adlark

My practical recommendation

For most advertisers, I would start with:

1. Run a free audit with a tool like WordStream or a specialized AI auditor. NotFair AdLeak
2. If it finds meaningful waste, move to: - Keyword Ninja for search-term cleanup and wasted spend reduction, or
3. Optmyzr if you manage larger/multiple accounts. Keyword Ninja softtrix.com

A good audit should quickly answer:

• “Which 10 keywords/search terms wasted the most money?”
• “Which campaigns should lose budget?”
• “Which campaigns deserve more budget?”
• “What negative keywords should I add?”
• “Is Google optimizing toward the wrong conversion goal?”

If you tell me your monthly ad spend, platform (Google Ads/Microsoft/Meta), and whether it’s ecommerce or lead generation, I can narrow this to the best 2–3 tools.

If your main goal is finding budget drains and poor-performing keywords in Google Ads, I’d shortlist these:

1. Adalysis — my first choice for budget leakage

Adalysis is particularly strong at exactly what you're describing. It can flag underperforming keywords, search terms, locations and placements, and its keyword analysis can identify search terms that are spending money without generating conversions. Adalysis Adalysis

It also supports:

• Negative-keyword discovery
• Duplicate/cannibalizing keywords
• N-gram analysis
• Custom performance thresholds
• Automated alerts
• Budget optimization
• Rules that can automatically resolve certain problems Adalysis Adalysis

There's also a free Google Ads audit that reports wasted spend and performance opportunities, so I'd probably start there before paying for anything. Adalysis

2. Optmyzr — better if you want a complete PPC operating system

optmyzr.com are broader. Its audits can identify things such as high-cost/low-quality-score ad groups, negative-keyword problems, inefficient keywords, budget-limited campaigns and impression-share opportunities. Optmyzr Help Center

It's particularly compelling if you manage multiple accounts because it combines auditing with:

• Budget pacing and forecasting
• Budget reallocation
• Automated rules
• KPI/anomaly alerts
• Search-term and keyword optimization
• Root-cause analysis
• Multi-platform management Optmyzr Help Center Optmyzr Help Center

So I'd choose Optmyzr over Adalysis if you're an agency or managing a large/multi-channel PPC operation.

What I'd use to actually find the leaks

Regardless of software, I'd want the audit to produce something like this:

1. Search terms with spend > $X and zero conversions
2. Keywords with spend > 1–2× target CPA and zero conversions
3. Keywords with high clicks but very low conversion rate
4. Search terms that should be negative keywords
5. High-CPC keywords with poor conversion economics
6. Campaigns consuming disproportionate budget for below-average ROAS/CPA
7. High-spend, low-Quality-Score keywords
8. Duplicate/cannibalizing keywords
9. Campaigns overspending their budget without producing proportional conversions
10. Budget that could be shifted from weak campaigns to profitable campaigns

My recommendation: Start with Adalysis if the immediate problem is "show me where we're wasting money." Start with Optmyzr if the goal is "continuously audit, monitor, and optimize this account."

If you tell me Google Ads vs. Microsoft Ads, monthly spend, and whether it's lead gen or ecommerce, I can also give you a much more specific recommendation and the exact audit rules/thresholds I'd run.

If your main goal is “scan the account and tell me where money is leaking”, I’d shortlist these:

1. optmyzr.com — best overall

This would be my first choice, especially for a serious Google Ads account.

It specifically covers:

• Wasted spend from expensive/non-converting keywords and search queries
• Search-term analysis and negative-keyword opportunities
• Budget pacing and overspend/underspend projections
• Campaign budget reallocation toward better performers
• Account audits and alerts
• Automated rules to continually catch waste
• Keyword, location, device, audience and placement analysis Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization Optmyzr Help Center

Its Account Structure Audit + keyword/search-query tools + budget optimization combination is particularly good for an initial forensic audit. Optmyzr Help Center Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization

Best for: finding where the money is going and then actually fixing it.

2. adalysis.com — best pure auditing tool

If you want something that behaves more like an always-on PPC auditor, I'd seriously consider Adalysis.

It runs 100+ automated checks and prioritizes problems by urgency. Its checks specifically include wasted spend from underperforming keywords, search terms, locations and placements, as well as sudden spending increases and conversion declines. Adalysis Adalysis

It also has:

• N-gram analysis
• Duplicate keyword/search-term detection
• Negative keyword analysis
• Budget pacing
• Custom performance alerts
• Automated fixes
• A free Google Ads audit report Adalysis Adalysis

Best for: “Give me a prioritized list of everything wrong with this account.”

My ranking for your specific use case

If I were auditing one account tomorrow: I'd start with Adalysis's free audit to get an independent diagnosis, then use Optmyzr if I wanted ongoing monitoring/automation and budget reallocation.

One important distinction: don't judge a keyword purely by CPA/ROAS. A good scanner should also identify search-query waste, high-cost/no-conversion terms, poor lead quality, budget trapped in low-value campaigns, geographic/device waste, and cannibalization. That's where these tools become much more useful than simply sorting the Google Ads keyword table by cost.

If you tell me Google Ads vs Microsoft Ads, monthly spend, and whether you're optimizing for leads or ecommerce revenue, I can give you a much more specific recommendation—including which one I'd actually pay for.

If your goal is specifically finding budget drains, wasted spend, bad search terms, and underperforming keywords, I’d prioritize tools that actually connect to the ad account and analyze spend/conversion data—not just generic PPC reporting tools. The Brand Hopper Trackingplan

Best Google Ads audit tools for finding wasted spend

My shortlist by use case

If you spend under ~$10k/month

1. Keyword Ninja — strongest fit if your main problem is "where is my money leaking?" It focuses heavily on zero-conversion keywords, wasted search terms, and negative keyword discovery. Keyword Ninja Keyword Ninja
2. Opteo — better if you want ongoing suggestions and a simpler workflow.
3. WordStream's grader — useful for a quick health check, but not a deep optimizer.

If you spend $10k–$100k+/month

1. Optmyzr — probably the most complete operational platform: audits, automation, scripts, rules, and account management. AdWhiz BullsEye Internet Marketing
2. Adalysis — excellent if you care about statistically valid testing and performance diagnostics. SalesTrig

If you run an agency

• Optmyzr for account operations.
• Adalysis for testing and analysis.
• Add a reporting layer if clients need dashboards.

What the software should find (the real budget drains)

A good audit tool should flag:

• Search terms spending money with 0 conversions
• Keywords with high spend but poor CPA/ROAS
• Broad match keywords attracting irrelevant traffic
• Missing negative keywords
• Campaigns with budget caps hiding better performers
• Poor Quality Score keywords driving high CPCs
• Location/device/daypart segments wasting spend
• Duplicate keyword targeting and cannibalization
• Performance Max campaigns spending on weak placements
• Conversion tracking issues (false winners/losers)

My practical recommendation

For most advertisers, I’d do:

1. Run a one-time audit with Keyword Ninja, TrueClicks, or a similar audit-focused tool to expose leaks. Keyword Ninja
2. Fix the obvious waste: - pause expensive non-converters
3. add negative keywords
4. tighten match types
5. move budget toward proven campaigns
6. Then use Optmyzr or Opteo for ongoing maintenance.

If you tell me your monthly ad spend, Google Ads type (Search/Shopping/PMax/YouTube), and whether you manage one account or many, I can narrow this to the best 2–3 options.

If your goal is finding budget drains, wasted clicks, and poor-performing keywords, I’d prioritize tools that analyze search terms, zero-conversion spend, negative keyword gaps, campaign allocation, and bid efficiency rather than general reporting platforms.

Here are some of the strongest options:

My shortlist by situation

If you spend under ~$10k/month

Start with:

1. Keyword Ninja — quickest way to identify obvious leaks. Keyword Ninja
2. PPC Tuner — useful if you want suggested fixes, not just a report. PPC Tuner

If you run an agency or many accounts

Look at:

1. Optmyzr
2. Adalysis

These are better when you need repeatable audits, reporting, and automation.

If the main problem is "Google is spending money on junk searches"

Prioritize tools that inspect:

• Search terms with clicks but no conversions
• Keywords with high CPA
• Broad-match leakage
• Missing negative keywords
• Search queries unrelated to buying intent
• Campaigns consuming budget without proportional conversions

Tools like Keyword Ninja and AdLeak are built around this type of waste detection. Keyword Ninja Marketing Hog

What I would avoid using as the only audit tool

• Google Ads Recommendations tab alone — it can surface useful ideas, but it is designed around Google’s optimization goals, not necessarily minimizing your spend.
• Analytics dashboards alone — they show what happened but usually don’t identify the exact keywords/search terms causing waste.

If you tell me your monthly ad spend, Google Ads vs Microsoft Ads, lead gen vs ecommerce, and whether you manage one account or many, I can narrow this to the best 2–3 choices.

If your main goal is finding where a Google Ads account is leaking money—especially expensive non-converting keywords/search terms—I’d shortlist these:

1. adalysis.com — best for finding budget drains

This would be my first choice for a pure “audit and find waste” job.

• Runs automated audits across Google Ads and Microsoft Ads.
• Has 100+ prebuilt checks, including underperforming keywords, search terms, duplicate terms, negative-keyword conflicts, and sudden spend increases. Adalysis Adalysis Documentation
• Particularly good at search-term/n-gram analysis, helping identify patterns of irrelevant or expensive queries and turn them into negative keywords. Adalysis Documentation
• Lets you create your own thresholds—for example, “flag keywords that have spent $200 with zero conversions.”
• Has a free Google Ads audit report, which is useful if you want to test it before paying. Adalysis

Best for: PPC managers who want a dedicated waste detector + automated audit system.

2. optmyzr.com — best all-around optimization platform

I'd choose Optmyzr if you don't just want to find the problems—you want a platform for ongoing optimization afterward.

It can identify non-converting keywords, expensive keywords, poor search queries, budget allocation opportunities, and other performance problems, then help automate the resulting actions. Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization

Its audit system also checks things like:

• High-cost/low-quality-score ad groups
• Campaigns losing impression share to budget
• Negative-keyword gaps and conflicts
• Keyword performance and match-type distribution
• Account structure
• Budget pacing and anomalies Optmyzr Help Center

Best for: Agencies or sophisticated advertisers managing accounts continuously.

3. Google Ads itself — surprisingly good if you know what to look for

For a single account, you don't necessarily need another platform. I'd first pull:

• Search terms → high spend / zero conversions
• Keywords → high cost / low conversion rate
• Search terms → irrelevant intent
• Location performance
• Device performance
• Hour/day performance
• Search lost IS (budget)
• Quality Score and its components
• Change history

The weakness is that Google Ads doesn't give you the same automated cross-account audit and prioritization that Adalysis/Optmyzr do.

My pick

If budget drains and bad keywords are specifically your #1 concern, I'd start with Adalysis. Its audit is unusually aligned with that exact use case: it explicitly surfaces poorly converting keywords, search terms, locations and placements, and lets you customize the thresholds. Adalysis

If you tell me Google Ads vs. Microsoft Ads, monthly spend, and roughly how many campaigns/keywords, I can also give you a specific audit setup (thresholds/rules) for catching wasted spend without accidentally killing profitable keywords.

If your main goal is “scan my Google Ads account and tell me where money is being wasted, especially bad keywords/search terms,” I’d shortlist these:

• optmyzr.com — Best overall. It’s particularly strong for finding wasted spend: non-converting queries, expensive keywords, irrelevant search terms, budget allocation problems, and opportunities to add negative keywords. Its Negative Keyword Finder specifically analyzes search-term data and recommends negatives. Optmyzr Help Center Optmyzr Help Center
• adalysis.com — Best for auditing/monitoring. It has 100+ configurable alerts, budget monitoring, and automated account checks. I’d favor it if you want a tool that continuously flags problems rather than primarily doing optimization automation. Adalysis
• Google Ads itself — Best free option. You can get surprisingly far with Search Terms, keyword-level cost/conversion data, negative keywords, recommendations, and budget reports. The weakness is that you have to do more of the diagnosis yourself.
• SalesTrig AdPilot — Best for a one-off deep audit. It positions itself more as a consultant-style audit with a financial model and prioritized action plan rather than an ongoing PPC management platform. SalesTrig

What I'd pick

For an account where you specifically suspect budget leakage, I'd start with Optmyzr. Its current tooling can identify things like:

• Search terms spending money without conversions
• Keywords with excessive CPA
• Irrelevant queries that should become negative keywords
• High-spend/low-return campaigns
• Budget being allocated to weaker campaigns
• Search-term/keyword intent mismatches
• Historical changes that explain performance deterioration Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization

The important distinction is that you don't just want a tool saying “Keyword X has a high CPA.” You want it to answer “Where did the last $5,000 go, why was it wasted, and what should I change?”

If you tell me roughly how much you spend per month (e.g. $5k, $20k, $100k+) and whether it's Google Search, PMax, or both, I can recommend the best tool for your situation and give you a specific audit checklist for finding the budget drains.

If your main goal is “scan my Google Ads account and tell me where the money is leaking”, I’d shortlist these:

1. adalysis.com — my pick for finding waste

This is probably the closest match to what you're asking for. Its auditing specifically looks at things like expensive/poor-performing keywords, search terms, negative-keyword conflicts, match-type problems, ad relevance, landing pages, and other account inconsistencies. HawkSEM Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization

It's particularly good if you want a report along the lines of:

“These 37 keywords spent $4,820 with zero conversions.”
“These search terms should be negatives.”
“These campaigns have budget/pacing problems.”
“These ads are underperforming their alternatives.”

2. optmyzr.com — best if you want to fix what it finds

I'd choose Optmyzr if this isn't just a one-time audit and you want software that can continuously monitor and optimize the account.

Its PPC Investigator can identify the keywords, placements, devices, etc. responsible for performance changes, while its Rule Engine can automate things such as excluding non-converting search queries and reducing budgets when performance deteriorates. Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization

It's also much better suited to agencies/multi-account environments and supports Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta and LinkedIn. Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization

3. opteo.com — easiest to use

If you don't want a giant PPC management platform, Opteo is attractive because it focuses heavily on surfacing recommendations and letting you approve them.

I'd pick it for a relatively straightforward Google Ads account where you want:

• wasted-spend recommendations
• keyword/bid recommendations
• budget suggestions
• account monitoring
• a simple “here's what you should fix” workflow

4. trueclicks.com — good for an audit/monitoring layer

TrueClicks is more audit-focused rather than trying to become your entire PPC management platform. That's useful if you already manage campaigns yourself but want another system constantly looking for problems.

5. keywordninja.com — worth testing for smaller accounts

This is a newer/lower-cost option that explicitly focuses on finding wasted spend and identifying winning/losing keywords. Its free tier makes it particularly interesting if your account isn't large enough to justify a $200–$500+/month PPC platform. Keyword Ninja Keyword Ninja

What I'd choose

If you're managing one or a few Google Ads accounts:
→ Adalysis first.

If you're an agency or managing substantial spend:
→ Optmyzr.

If you want the simplest “tell me what to fix” experience:
→ Opteo.

If you're trying to spend as little as possible:
→ Keyword Ninja or a free audit from TrueClicks.

One important distinction: don't evaluate these just by how many “issues” they find. The valuable tool is the one that quantifies financial impact. I'd want it to rank findings by something like:

Potential wasted spend → conversions lost → CPA/ROAS impact → recommended action.

That lets you immediately answer “If I fix the top 10 problems, how much money could I realistically recover?”

If you tell me your approximate monthly ad spend (e.g. $5k, $50k, $500k) and whether it's Google Search, PMax, or both, I can narrow this down to the 2–3 tools I'd actually pay for and compare their pricing/features.

If your main goal is finding budget drains and underperforming keywords/search terms, I’d shortlist these:

1. Optmyzr — best overall

Optmyzr is probably my first choice if you're managing a meaningful Google Ads account.

It can identify expensive/non-converting keywords and search queries, suggest negative keywords, optimize bids, and identify campaigns where budget should be reallocated. It also has budget forecasting and optimization across campaigns. Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization Optmyzr Help Center

A particularly useful feature is its ability to surface search terms that are getting clicks but aren't producing conversions, allowing you to turn them into negative keywords. Its newer tools also analyze search-term intent, which is useful for catching queries that look relevant but have poor commercial intent. Optmyzr Help Center Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization

I'd choose Optmyzr if: you're looking for a tool that doesn't just tell you what's wrong but can help automate the fixes.

2. Adalysis — best pure audit tool

Adalysis is especially strong if you want to answer:

"Where exactly is my account wasting money?"

It runs 100+ automated account checks and can flag underperforming keywords, search terms, locations, placements, quality-score problems, sudden spend increases, conversion drops, and other issues. Adalysis Adalysis

Its search-term/n-gram analysis is particularly relevant to your question: it aggregates query patterns and identifies terms with substantial clicks/impressions but poor conversion performance, making it easier to find negative-keyword opportunities. Adalysis Docs

It also has budget monitoring and can flag campaigns that are overspending or campaigns where additional budget could generate more impressions. Adalysis Adalysis Docs

I'd choose Adalysis if: you want to connect an account, run an audit, and get a prioritized list of things costing you money.

My recommendation

If I were auditing an account today:

Adalysis → for the initial forensic audit
Optmyzr → for ongoing optimization and automation

For a single Google Ads account, I'd lean Adalysis if your immediate objective is discovering waste. For an agency or multiple accounts, I'd lean Optmyzr because its optimization and budget-management capabilities become more valuable at scale. Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization Optmyzr Help Center

One important distinction: don't limit the audit to keywords. A lot of "keyword waste" actually originates in the search terms triggered by broad match, plus bad locations, devices, placements, audiences, and campaign-level budget allocation.

If you tell me roughly monthly ad spend (e.g. $10k, $50k, $500k+) and whether it's Google Search, PMax, or both, I can give you a much more specific recommendation and the exact audit rules I'd run first.

If your goal is specifically finding budget drains, wasted spend, bad search terms, and underperforming keywords, I’d prioritize PPC audit/optimization tools over general marketing platforms. The best choice depends on whether you manage one account or many.

Best Google Ads audit tools for finding wasted spend

My shortlist by situation

If you spend under ~$10k/month

Use:

1. opteo.com
2. keywordninja.com
3. adleak.io

You mainly need:

• search term waste detection
• negative keyword suggestions
• keywords spending money without conversions
• campaign budget reallocation

If you manage an agency or multiple accounts

Use:

1. optmyzr.com
2. adalysis.com
3. ppctuner.ai

You’ll want:

• MCC support
• automated rules
• reporting
• change logs
• bulk optimization

Features I would insist on

A good scanner should identify:

• High spend + zero conversions

• Example: keyword spent $500 with 0 leads
• Poor CPA/ROAS keywords

• Keywords converting but at an unacceptable cost
• Search-term leakage

• Queries triggering ads that don’t match buyer intent
• Negative keyword gaps

• Missing exclusions like “free,” “jobs,” “DIY,” “training,” etc. (depending on your business)
• Budget cannibalization

• Campaigns stealing budget from better performers
• Match-type problems

• Broad match terms generating irrelevant traffic
• Tracking problems

• Fake conversions, duplicate conversions, broken goals

My practical recommendation

For most advertisers, I’d start with:

• Best overall audit + optimization: optmyzr.com
• Best “find where money is leaking” scanner: keywordninja.com Keyword Ninja
• Best quick free diagnosis: adleak.io AdLeak
• Best AI-style continuous monitoring: adtunez.com Adtunez

If you tell me your monthly ad spend, platform (Google Ads/Microsoft Ads/Meta), and whether you run lead gen or ecommerce, I can narrow this to the best 2–3 options.

If your main goal is “scan the account and tell me where the money is leaking”, I’d shortlist these:

1. optmyzr.com — best overall

• Finds expensive/non-converting keywords and search queries.
• Identifies wasted spend and recommends negative keywords.
• Has specific “Find Expensive Keywords” and “Non-Converting Search Queries” strategies.
• Can also monitor budgets, bids, locations, devices, placements, etc.
• Particularly strong if you want to go from audit → recommendation → automated fix. Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization Optmyzr Help Center
• adalysis.com — best pure audit/diagnostic tool

• Very good for an initial account health scan.
• Flags underperforming keywords, search terms, locations and placements, plus sudden spend increases and conversion declines.
• Offers 100+ prebuilt checks and lets you create custom thresholds. Adalysis Adalysis
• They also offer a free Google Ads audit, which makes this the one I'd try first if you don't want to pay immediately. Adalysis
• ads.google.com — best free option

• Don't overlook the native Search Terms, keyword, campaign, budget and recommendation reports.
• The weakness is that you have to do much more of the analysis yourself; dedicated tools are better at surfacing the “here are the 27 things wasting money” view.

My pick

For a serious account: Optmyzr.
For a quick forensic audit: Adalysis.

The distinction is important: Adalysis is excellent at saying “here are the problems,” while Optmyzr is stronger if you want “here are the problems, prioritize them, and automate the recurring fixes.” Optmyzr's current tooling specifically supports finding non-converting queries, expensive keywords, budget problems and negative-keyword opportunities. Optmyzr Help Center Optmyzr Help Center

If you tell me Google Ads vs. Microsoft Ads, monthly spend, and whether you're optimizing for leads or ecommerce revenue, I can also give you a ranked list of the 5–7 best tools for your specific account, including approximate pricing and which one will uncover the most wasted spend.

If your main goal is “scan the account and tell me where money is being wasted and which keywords/search terms are dragging performance down,” my first choice is optmyzr.com.

My shortlist

Why Optmyzr stands out: it specifically has tools for finding expensive keywords, non-converting queries, wasted search-term spend, declining performance, Quality Score problems, and budget allocation issues. Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization Optmyzr Help

Its Non-Converting Queries analysis can identify queries with high cost/no conversions and recommend negative keywords, while its Expensive Keywords strategy flags keywords with unusually high CPA or substantial click volume without conversions. Optmyzr Help Optmyzr Help

It also goes beyond simply saying “this keyword is bad.” Its newer intent-similarity analysis can identify searches that appear textually relevant but don't actually match the intended meaning of your keywords—particularly useful with broad match, Performance Max, and AI Max. Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization

If you're auditing an account right now

I'd want the software to surface these five buckets:

1. High spend + 0 conversions — immediate waste candidates.
2. High CPA / low ROAS keywords — expensive traffic that technically converts but isn't economical.
3. Search terms that should be negatives — often the biggest hidden drain.
4. Budget going to mediocre campaigns while better campaigns are constrained.
5. Keywords/ad groups with deteriorating performance rather than just historically poor performers.

Optmyzr can address all five, including automated budget reallocation based on performance. Optmyzr Help

Adalysis would be my second choice if you care more about continuous monitoring, alerts, root-cause analysis, and a strong PPC performance dashboard. adalysis.com

If you tell me Google Ads vs. Microsoft Ads, monthly spend (e.g. $10k/$50k/$500k), and whether it's lead gen or ecommerce, I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 tools for your situation and tell you which one I'd actually buy.

If you're auditing an account right now

I'd want the software to surface these five buckets:

If your goal is specifically finding budget drains and poor-performing keywords, I’d prioritize tools that analyze:

• wasted spend (keywords/search terms spending money without conversions)
• negative keyword gaps
• search term quality
• CPA/ROAS outliers
• match-type problems (especially broad match)
• budget allocation mistakes
• Quality Score issues
• campaign/ad group structure

Good options:

My shortlist by situation

• Small business spending under ~$5k/month:

Start with Keyword Ninja or AdLark. You mainly need to catch obvious leaks: irrelevant searches, expensive non-converters, and bad match types. Keyword Ninja Adlark

• $5k–$50k/month Google Ads spend:

Look at Adalysis or Optmyzr. You’ll benefit more from account structure analysis, testing, and ongoing optimization. ZipDo AdToolScout

• Agency managing many accounts:

Optmyzr is usually the type of platform built for repeatable audits and workflows across clients. ZipDo

What I’d check first in any audit tool

A good scanner should immediately show:

1. Keywords with spend but zero conversions

• e.g., $500 spent, 40 clicks, 0 leads
• Search terms that should become negative keywords

• informational searches
• job seekers
• free/training/research queries
• irrelevant locations
• Campaigns consuming budget but underperforming

• high CPA
• low conversion rate
• poor ROAS
• Broad match waste

• especially where Smart Bidding has insufficient conversion data
• Budget cannibalization

• multiple campaigns competing for the same traffic

If you tell me:

• Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, Meta, or another platform?
• monthly ad spend?
• lead gen or ecommerce?
• number of campaigns?

…I can narrow this to the 2–3 tools that fit best.

If your main goal is finding budget drains and bad keywords/search terms, I’d shortlist these:

1. Adalysis — best if you want an automated "find what's wrong" scanner

Adalysis runs 100+ daily checks and specifically flags things such as underperforming keywords, search terms, locations and placements. You can prioritize issues by urgency and create your own thresholds/alerts. Adalysis Adalysis

Its free audit is particularly useful if you want to scan an account before paying for anything. It reports wasted spend, poorly converting keywords/segments/landing pages, quality-score issues and account-structure problems. Adalysis

I'd choose this if: you primarily want an automated PPC "health check" that tells you where money is leaking.

2. Optmyzr — best if you want to go from diagnosis → fixing

Optmyzr is more of a full PPC optimization platform. Its audit can identify high-cost/low-quality-score ad groups, budget-limited campaigns, keyword performance issues, negative-keyword problems and other structural issues. Optmyzr Help Center

The particularly useful pieces for your use case are:

• Non-converting search-query detection → find queries eating spend without producing conversions.
• Search Terms N-Grams → identify recurring words/phrases associated with poor performance.
• Budget management/pacing → determine where budgets are being wasted or where additional budget could actually produce more.
• Rule Engine → automatically flag or exclude wasteful queries and adjust budgets based on performance. Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization

I'd choose this if: you're managing multiple accounts or want the software to continually identify and act on waste rather than simply generate an audit.

What I'd use for your specific objective

If you said:

"I have a Google Ads account. Tell me where I'm wasting money, especially bad keywords, and give me things I should pause/exclude."

I'd start with Adalysis.

If you said:

"I manage PPC continuously and want software that finds waste, reallocates budgets, manages search terms and automates optimizations."

I'd go with Optmyzr.

One important distinction: don't only look at keyword-level performance. A lot of budget waste is actually hiding in the search terms triggered by keywords. A keyword can look mediocre while individual queries reveal exactly where the money is going. Optmyzr and Adalysis both have tooling aimed at this broader analysis. Adalysis Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization

If you tell me Google Ads vs. Microsoft Ads, monthly spend, and roughly how many campaigns, I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 tools and compare their pricing, audit depth, automation, and ease of use.

If your goal is finding budget drains and underperforming keywords in a Google Ads account, you want a tool that can analyze:

• Search terms wasting spend
• Keywords with high cost/no conversions
• Poor match-type choices (especially broad match leakage)
• Negative keyword gaps
• Campaigns stealing budget from better performers
• Low Quality Score / expensive CPC issues
• Conversion tracking problems

Here are some of the strongest options:

My picks by situation

If you spend under ~$10k/month

Start with:

1. opteo.com
2. keywordninja.com
3. adlark.app

You probably need clarity and quick wins, not a huge enterprise platform.

If you manage multiple client accounts

Look at:

1. optmyzr.com
2. trueclicks.com
3. adalysis.com

These are better for repeatable audits and account governance.

If you want a one-time "where is my money leaking?" scan

AI audit tools are usually the fastest:

• keywordninja.com — strong focus on wasted spend and search-term problems. Keyword Ninja
• adlark.app — quick Google Ads waste scans. Adlark
• adbrief.app — can audit via Google Ads connection or uploaded reports. AdBrief

What I would check before trusting any tool

A good audit tool should show actual dollars tied to problems, not just "optimization scores." Look for:

• "Spent $X, generated 0 conversions" keyword reports
• Search query mining
• Negative keyword recommendations
• Campaign budget reallocation suggestions
• Device/location/daypart waste
• Conversion tracking validation
• Ability to preview changes before applying them

Also, Google Ads' built-in Recommendations tab can be useful, but it often prioritizes Google's goals (more spend/automation adoption), so I would treat it as one data point rather than the final authority.

If you tell me your monthly ad spend, Google vs Microsoft vs Meta, and whether you're ecommerce, lead gen, or local service, I can narrow this to the 2–3 tools that fit best.

If your main goal is “scan the account and show me where money is leaking”, I’d shortlist these:

1. optmyzr.com — best overall

This would be my first choice for a serious Google Ads account.

It specifically has tools for:

• Finding high-spend, non-converting keywords
• Finding wasted spend in search terms
• Identifying irrelevant queries and generating negative-keyword opportunities
• Auditing account structure and settings
• Monitoring budget pacing and overspend
• Analyzing performance by keyword, device, location, time, etc. Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization

Its audit system can also be scheduled, so you're not just doing a one-time cleanup. Optmyzr Help Center

Best for: agencies, larger accounts, or anyone who wants both auditing and ongoing optimization.

2. adalysis.com — best specifically for finding waste

If your question is literally “Where is my Google Ads budget being wasted?”, I'd seriously consider Adalysis.

It has 100+ automated audit checks and explicitly flags:

• Underperforming keywords
• Poor search terms
• Wasteful locations
• Wasteful placements
• Sudden increases in spend
• Drops in conversions/revenue
• Budget/performance problems Adalysis Adalysis

Its n-gram analysis is particularly useful: it aggregates recurring words/phrases across search queries and identifies patterns with lots of clicks/spend but poor conversion performance. That's a very effective way to uncover systematic keyword waste that isn't obvious one keyword at a time. Adalysis Docs

There's also a free Google Ads audit you can run before committing. Adalysis

Best for: quickly diagnosing an existing account and finding obvious waste.

3. Google Ads itself — best free option

Don't overlook the native data. With a reasonably configured account, you can find most budget drains by analyzing:

Search terms → Cost → Conversions → CPA/ROAS

The biggest traps are usually:

• Search terms spending without converting
• Keywords with significant spend and zero/poor conversions
• Broad-match terms pulling irrelevant intent
• Geographic areas with poor conversion rates
• Campaigns consuming disproportionate budget at poor CPA
• Search terms that should become negative keywords

The paid tools are mainly valuable because they automate the detection, prioritization, alerting, and cross-account analysis.

My recommendation

If I had to pick one: Optmyzr for an ongoing PPC management system; Adalysis if your immediate objective is simply to connect the account and get a prioritized list of things bleeding money.

One important distinction: don't judge keywords solely on “no conversions.” A keyword with $500 spend and zero conversions may be terrible—or it may have only generated 20 clicks. The better audit looks at spend relative to your target CPA/ROAS, conversion volume, conversion lag, and statistical confidence. Optmyzr and Adalysis both provide substantially more context than a simple “pause anything with zero conversions” rule. Optmyzr Help Center Optmyzr Help Center

If you tell me monthly ad spend (e.g. $10k, $50k, $500k), Google Ads vs. Microsoft Ads, and whether you're lead gen or ecommerce, I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 options for your situation.

If your main goal is “scan the account, find where money is leaking, and tell me which keywords/search terms to cut,” I’d shortlist these:

My picks

1. optmyzr.com — best overall

• Probably the strongest fit for what you described.
• Finds high-spend/no-conversion search terms, non-converting keywords, expensive keywords, low-Quality-Score keywords, and negative-keyword opportunities. Optmyzr Help Center Optmyzr Help Center Optmyzr Help Center
• Its Rule Engine lets you turn your own criteria into recurring scans/automations—for example, “flag search terms with >$X spend and zero conversions.” Optmyzr Help Center Optmyzr Help Center
• It also has budget pacing/projection and budget reallocation tools, so it goes beyond keyword cleanup. Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization
• Best for: agencies, larger accounts, or anyone who wants both auditing and automated optimization.
• adalysis.com — best for finding search-term waste

• Particularly good if your biggest concern is “where exactly is my Google Ads money going?”
• Its keyword tools can flag underperforming search terms that are wasting budget without conversions and suggest negative keywords. Adalysis
• Strong n-gram analysis is useful for discovering patterns like “cheap,” “jobs,” “free,” etc. that repeatedly appear in expensive non-converting searches. Adalysis
• Also handles duplicate/cannibalizing search terms and budget optimization. Adalysis Adalysis
• Best for: PPC specialists who want a very focused optimization/auditing workflow.

What I'd choose

If you're managing one or a few serious Google Ads accounts: Adalysis.

If you're managing multiple accounts or want the software to continuously make/recommend optimizations: Optmyzr.

For your specific phrase—“scanning an ads account to identify budget drains and poor-performing keywords”—I'd give Optmyzr a slight edge, because its audit + negative keyword + non-converting keyword + custom Rule Engine combination is unusually comprehensive. Optmyzr Help Center Optmyzr Help Center

One important distinction

Don't only look for “poor-performing keywords.” The bigger source of waste is often the search terms triggered by otherwise legitimate keywords. For example:

Keyword: roof repair
Search term: roof repair jobs near me

The keyword itself may look fine, while the triggered query is wasting money. Both Optmyzr and Adalysis are particularly useful because they analyze the search-term level, not just keyword-level CPA. Optmyzr Help Center Adalysis

If you tell me Google Ads vs. Microsoft Ads, monthly spend, and roughly how many campaigns, I can give you a more specific top 3 with pricing/value and which one I'd actually buy.

If your main goal is “scan the Google Ads account and tell me where money is leaking”, I’d shortlist these:

🥇 My pick: Optmyzr

Optmyzr is probably the strongest fit if you're looking specifically for budget drains + poor-performing keywords.

Its audit system can identify things like:

• High-spend/low-Quality-Score ad groups
• Campaigns losing impression share because of budget
• Conflicting/duplicate keywords
• Poor search terms that should become negatives
• Keywords/search terms with poor CPA or ROAS
• Performance changes down to specific keywords, devices, locations, etc.
• Budget pacing and overspending problems

Its search-term analysis is particularly interesting: it uses an intent-similarity score from 0–100 to identify searches that appear relevant but don't actually match the intended keyword, which can be useful for finding hidden wasted spend. www.optmyzr.comwww.optmyzr.com

It also has a PPC Investigator that tries to identify what actually caused a performance change rather than merely showing that performance changed. www.optmyzr.comwww.optmyzr.com

🥈 Adalysis — arguably better if auditing is the #1 job

Adalysis is worth serious consideration.

It runs 100+ automated audit checks daily, prioritizes the findings, and can flag sudden spend increases, conversion declines, search-click declines, and other problems. adalysis.com

Its free audit specifically asks questions such as:

How much money are you spending on poorly converting keywords, segments, or landing pages?

That makes it a very good “plug in the account and find the leaks” tool. adalysis.com

The distinction I'd use

Choose Optmyzr if:

• You're managing multiple accounts.
• You want the software to diagnose why performance changed.
• You want sophisticated keyword/search-term analysis.
• You want to automate fixes after identifying waste.
• You may eventually want budget optimization, bid management, and broader PPC automation.

Choose Adalysis if:

• Your primary job is auditing and finding problems.
• You're mainly on Google Ads/Microsoft Ads.
• You want lots of automated checks running continuously.
• Ad testing and statistical analysis are important.
• You want something somewhat more focused than Optmyzr.

An independent 2026 comparison also puts the distinction similarly: Optmyzr is broader and stronger for multi-platform management/automation, while Adalysis is particularly strong in auditing and ad testing. www.optmyzr.com

One thing I'd do before paying

Run your account through Adalysis's free audit first. Free Adalysis PPC Audit

Then, if the audit shows substantial waste, trial Optmyzr and see whether its search-term/keyword analysis uncovers additional waste.

If you tell me your monthly ad spend, Google Ads vs. Microsoft Ads, number of campaigns, and whether you're optimizing for leads or e-commerce, I can narrow this down to the best 1–2 tools for your situation and tell you what I'd use to find the budget drains.

If your main goal is finding where an ads account is leaking money—especially wasted spend, bad search terms, and underperforming keywords—I’d shortlist these:

1. Optmyzr — my first choice

optmyzr.com

This is probably the one I'd use if you're looking for a repeatable "scan the account and tell me where the money is going" system.

It can identify:

• High-spend, low-conversion keywords
• Expensive search queries that should become negatives
• Poor-performing keywords and search terms
• Budget pacing/overspending
• Campaigns that deserve more or less budget
• Changes responsible for sudden performance deterioration
• Geographic/device/time-of-day pockets of wasted spend
• Quality Score problems

Its Search Query analysis specifically surfaces costly or low-performing terms and can help turn them into negative keywords. Its PPC Investigator is designed to identify what actually caused a performance change. Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization

The budget-management side is particularly strong: it can forecast spend, flag over/under-pacing, and reallocate budget toward campaigns with stronger performance potential. Optmyzr Help

Best if: you're managing multiple accounts or want something that goes beyond an audit and continuously catches waste.

2. Adalysis — arguably better if "audit" is the primary job

adalysis.com

I'd strongly consider this if you want a dedicated PPC health scanner rather than a broad PPC management platform.

Adalysis has 100+ configurable alerts covering things such as:

• Negative keyword opportunities
• Duplicate search terms
• High-CPA segments
• High-volume keywords with declining Quality Score
• Sudden spend increases
• Conversion/revenue declines
• Budget pacing
• Budget-limited campaigns
• Disapproved assets
• Poor-performing assets

It also has n-gram analysis, which is very useful for finding recurring patterns in search queries that are quietly eating budget. Adalysis Adalysis

Best if: your workflow is essentially "scan → identify problems → fix them."

3. SalesTrig AdPilot — interesting for a one-time audit

If you're not looking for ongoing PPC management, but instead want something closer to:

"Give this account access and tell me exactly where we're wasting money and what I should fix."

SalesTrig's AdPilot is worth looking at. It positions itself around a financial-model-style audit and prioritized action plan rather than just a collection of PPC management tools. SalesTrig

I'd still put Optmyzr/Adalysis ahead of it for ongoing management, though.

What I'd choose

For a serious Google Ads account:

Optmyzr > Adalysis > AdPilot

But there's an important distinction:

• Want ongoing automated monitoring + budget reallocation? → Optmyzr
• Want the deepest "what's wrong with this account?" audit? → Adalysis
• Want a one-off strategic audit/report? → AdPilot
• Want free? → Google Ads + a good audit framework

One thing I would not do is blindly pause every keyword with a high CPA. The better tools distinguish between statistically meaningful waste and keywords that simply haven't accumulated enough conversion data.

If you tell me your monthly ad spend (e.g. $10k, $50k, $500k), Google vs. Meta, and whether you're running lead gen or ecommerce, I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 tools for your specific account and tell you what I'd actually deploy.

"Give this account access and tell me exactly where we're wasting money and what I should fix."

SalesTrig's AdPilot is worth looking at. It positions itself around a financial-model-style audit and prioritized action plan rather than just a collection of PPC management tools.

I'd still put Optmyzr/Adalysis ahead of it for ongoing management, though.

What I'd choose

For a serious Google Ads account:

Optmyzr > Adalysis > AdPilot

But there's an important distinction:

If your main goal is finding wasted ad spend and bad keywords, I’d narrow it to Optmyzr vs. Adalysis.

🥇 My pick: Optmyzr

optmyzr.com is probably the strongest choice if you want software that doesn't just tell you that an account has problems, but helps you systematically find and fix them.

Particularly useful for your use case:

• High-cost, low-performing keywords — identify keywords consuming significant spend without producing enough conversions.
• Search-term waste — find queries that look relevant but aren't actually aligned with your intended traffic, then add them as negatives.
• Budget allocation — identify campaigns where money should be moved from weak performers to stronger ones.
• Budget pacing/alerts — catch accounts that are spending too quickly or slowly.
• PPC Investigator — drill down into which campaigns, keywords, devices, etc. caused performance changes.
• Automated rules — e.g. "pause keywords that spend $X with zero conversions" or flag them for review. Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization Optmyzr Google Ads Optimization

Its audit system specifically checks things like high-spend/low-Quality-Score ad groups, negative-keyword gaps, keyword performance, search-query performance, and campaigns losing impression share because of budget. Optmyzr Help Center

🥈 Adalysis — arguably better if auditing is the #1 job

adalysis.com is particularly compelling if you're primarily managing Google Ads/Microsoft Ads and want a continuous auditing system.

Its free audit explicitly looks for:

• wasted spend on poorly converting keywords
• underperforming segments and landing pages
• missed traffic due to budget/bid restrictions
• poor-performing ads
• Quality Score problems
• account-structure issues Adalysis

It also has automated monitoring, budget management, performance analysis, quality-score management, and keyword tools. Adalysis

What I'd choose

One/few Google Ads accounts: → Adalysis

Agency / multiple accounts / larger spend: → Optmyzr

Google + Microsoft + potentially other paid-media channels: → Optmyzr

You mainly want a quick diagnostic before paying for anything: → Run the Adalysis free audit first. It can give you a surprisingly useful picture of where the account is leaking money. Adalysis

One important distinction: don't judge "poor keywords" purely by CTR or Quality Score. For a budget-drain audit, I'd prioritize spend → conversions → CPA/ROAS → search-term intent → conversion quality. Otherwise you can accidentally kill keywords that look inefficient but generate valuable downstream customers.

If you tell me your monthly ad spend, Google vs. Microsoft, and whether you're lead gen or ecommerce, I can give you a much more specific recommendation and the exact audit rules I'd configure.

If your main goal is “scan my Google Ads account and tell me where money is being wasted and which keywords/search terms are dragging performance down,” I’d shortlist these:

My pick: Adalysis

For the specific job you described, Adalysis is probably the first one I'd try.

It runs automated audits with 100+ checks, prioritizes issues by urgency, and specifically flags wasted spend from underperforming keywords, search terms, locations and placements. adalysis.com

Its search-term analysis is particularly useful: it can identify expensive/poorly converting queries, surface potential negative keywords, and perform n-gram analysis to find recurring words or phrases associated with wasted spend. docs.adalysis.com

It also has a free Google Ads audit, which makes it a good low-risk starting point. The audit reports on wasted spend, keyword performance, Quality Score, account structure and opportunities. adalysis.com

Optmyzr if you want more than auditing

I'd choose Optmyzr if you're managing the account continuously rather than just looking for a diagnostic.

It combines audits with:

• Search-term/keyword optimization
• Negative keyword discovery
• Budget reallocation
• Budget pacing and overspend alerts
• Bid optimization
• Automated rules
• Campaign/account monitoring
• Multi-account management

Its budget tools can actually recommend reallocating budget between campaigns based on performance, forecast spend, monitor pacing, and automate budget changes. help.optmyzr.com

Its audits also specifically identify things such as high-cost/low-Quality-Score ad groups, campaigns losing impression share due to budget, converting keywords losing impression share, and keyword match-type performance. help.optmyzr.com

What I'd use for a real “find the leaks” audit

I'd have the software answer these questions in roughly this order:

1. Which campaigns spent the most without producing profitable conversions?
2. Which keywords have high spend + zero/few conversions?
3. Which search queries are wasting money despite the keyword itself looking good?
4. Which recurring search-term phrases should become negative keywords?
5. Which campaigns are consuming budget while better campaigns are budget constrained?
6. Which keywords have poor CPA/ROAS relative to the account average?
7. Where is Quality Score contributing to unnecessarily high CPCs?
8. Are certain locations, devices, hours, audiences, or networks producing disproportionately bad traffic?
9. Are there duplicate/overlapping keywords competing with each other?
10. What can safely be automated versus what needs human review?

Bottom line:

• Want the fastest “show me where I'm wasting money” audit → Adalysis.
• Want an ongoing PPC optimization/automation platform → Optmyzr.
• Want to spend $0 first → run Adalysis's free audit, then decide whether you need the heavier Optmyzr workflow.

If you tell me Google Ads vs Microsoft Ads, monthly spend, and whether you're lead-gen or ecommerce, I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 tools for your situation.

If your main goal is finding budget leaks and poor-performing keywords/search terms in Google Ads, I’d shortlist these:

🥇 I'd start with Adalysis

For the specific problem you described, Adalysis is probably the closest fit. It runs 100+ automated PPC checks and specifically flags things like underperforming keywords, search terms, locations and placements, as well as sudden spend increases and conversion declines. adalysis.com

Its search-term analysis is particularly useful: it uses n-gram analysis to identify recurring phrases that generate lots of clicks/spend but few conversions—exactly the kind of pattern that's tedious to uncover manually. docs.adalysis.com

It also has a free Google Ads audit that reports wasted spend, poorly converting keywords/segments/landing pages, Quality Score issues and structural problems. docs.adalysis.comadalysis.comwww.optmyzr.com

Run the free Adalysis Google Ads audit

🥈 Choose Optmyzr if you want it to act on the findings

Optmyzr is stronger if you're not just looking for an audit but want an ongoing optimization system. It can identify non-converting keywords, expensive search queries, budget opportunities and low-performing campaigns, then automate rules such as pausing expensive keywords or reallocating budgets. www.optmyzr.com

Its current audit system also specifically checks things like high-cost/low-Quality-Score ad groups, campaigns losing impression share to budget, negative-keyword conflicts, and keyword performance by match type. help.optmyzr.com

My recommendation

If you have one/few accounts and want to answer "where the hell is my money going?" → Adalysis.

If you're managing multiple accounts or want automated rules and budget optimization after the audit → Optmyzr.

And I wouldn't judge keywords simply by CPA/ROAS. The really valuable audit should identify:

• 💸 High spend + zero conversions
• 💸 High spend + CPA substantially above target
• 🔎 Search terms that don't match commercial intent
• 🔎 N-grams repeatedly associated with wasted spend
• 💤 Keywords spending enough to be statistically meaningful but producing nothing
• 📉 Keywords with declining conversion rate
• 🎯 Search terms that should become negative keywords
• 🔀 Keyword/search-term overlap and cannibalization
• 📊 Campaigns consuming disproportionate budget relative to conversion value
• 💰 Campaigns that are budget-constrained but actually deserve more budget

If you tell me Google Ads vs Microsoft Ads, monthly spend, and whether you're optimizing for leads, sales, or ROAS, I can also tell you which tool I'd pick and exactly how I'd configure the audit thresholds.

If your main goal is “find where the money is leaking and tell me which keywords/search terms to fix,” I’d shortlist these:

🥇 My pick: Optmyzr

Optmyzr is probably the strongest choice if you're auditing accounts professionally. It has a dedicated PPC Account Audit, budget pacing/alerts, non-converting-keyword identification, and rules for finding expensive keywords and reducing bids. help.optmyzr.com

It can specifically surface things like:

• Keywords spending significantly without conversions
• Keywords with excessive CPA
• Campaigns losing impression share because of budget—useful for determining where more budget is justified versus where you're simply wasting it
• Search queries that should become negatives
• Budget pacing and projected spend
• Performance anomalies
• Quality Score and account-structure problems www.optmyzr.com

What I particularly like: it isn't just an audit report. You can turn findings into rules and ongoing monitoring, so it can keep looking for waste after the initial cleanup.

🥈 Adalysis — arguably better if keywords are your #1 concern

If you're primarily trying to answer “Which search terms are wasting money, and what negative keywords should I add?”, I'd seriously consider Adalysis.

Its search-term tools automatically identify expensive/underperforming searches, potential new keywords, potential negatives, duplicate search terms, and account/campaign-level n-grams. docs.adalysis.com

The n-gram functionality is particularly useful: instead of looking at individual searches, it can identify recurring words/phrases associated with lots of spend and poor conversion performance. adalysis.com

It also has automated alerts/actions for adding new keywords and negatives, and can analyze PMax search-term patterns as well. adalysis.com

How I'd choose

If you're managing multiple client accounts:
→ Optmyzr

If you're doing a deep Google Search keyword cleanup:
→ Adalysis

If you want both:
→ Optmyzr for the account/budget/performance layer + Adalysis for search-term/negative-keyword mining.

One important distinction: don't let a tool blindly flag every keyword with zero conversions. A $200 keyword with zero conversions might be terrible—or completely normal if the account's conversion cycle is long. The useful tools are the ones that compare spend against expected conversion volume/CPA, rather than simply saying “0 conversions = pause.”

If you tell me Google Ads vs. Microsoft Ads, monthly spend, and whether you're running Search/PMax/Shopping, I can give you a much tighter recommendation—including which tool I'd actually pay for.

If your main goal is “scan my Google Ads account and tell me where money is leaking”, I’d shortlist these:

1. Optmyzr — best overall

My pick if you want both diagnosis and ongoing automation.

It specifically looks for:

• Expensive/non-converting keywords
• Poor search queries that should become negatives
• Budget pacing and overspending
• Campaigns where budget should be reallocated
• Bid opportunities
• Account-structure problems
• Performance anomalies

Its audit tool can grade account health, while its optimization tools can identify wasted spend and reduce bids on poor-performing keywords. www.optmyzr.com

The particularly useful part for your use case is its budget reallocation tooling: it can recommend moving budget between campaigns based on CPA, ROAS, conversions, conversion value, etc., and simulate the potential impact before you make the change. help.optmyzr.com

Optmyzr PPC Audit

2. Adalysis — best for finding waste quickly

I'd choose this if your primary objective is auditing rather than managing the whole account.

Adalysis has 100+ automated audit checks, including alerts for:

• Underperforming keywords
• Expensive search terms
• Poor-performing locations/placements
• Sudden spend increases
• Conversion/revenue drops
• Keyword and search-term problems
• Budget issues

It can prioritize issues by urgency and send alerts via email or Slack. adalysis.com

Its search-term analysis is especially relevant: you can identify expensive/underperforming queries, find converting queries worth promoting to keywords, and identify terms that should be blocked with negatives. docs.adalysis.com

Bonus: Adalysis offers a free Google Ads audit, so it's probably the first thing I'd run if you just want to diagnose an account before paying for software. adalysis.com

Free Adalysis Google Ads Audit

3. Google Ads itself — surprisingly useful, but less comprehensive

If you're only managing one or two accounts, you can get surprisingly far with native Google Ads reports:

• Search terms → wasted queries
• Keywords → high spend / low conversion
• Campaign budget reports
• Search impression share lost to budget
• Quality Score
• Location/device/day-of-week performance

The problem is that you have to do the analysis yourself. That's where Optmyzr/Adalysis become much more valuable.

What I'd choose

If I were auditing an account today, I'd actually run the free Adalysis audit first, then trial Optmyzr if the account is large enough to justify ongoing automation.

One important caveat: don't let either tool blindly pause keywords. A keyword with zero conversions isn't necessarily a budget drain if it has only spent $20; conversely, a keyword with conversions can still be terrible if its marginal CPA/ROAS is poor. The useful audit should rank waste by spend relative to your actual conversion economics, not simply “no conversions.”

If you tell me roughly monthly ad spend, Google vs. Microsoft, lead-gen vs. ecommerce, and number of campaigns, I can tell you which of the two is the better fit and what rules I'd use to identify the budget drains.

If your main goal is finding budget drains and poor-performing keywords in Google Ads, my top picks are:

My pick: Optmyzr

For what you described, I'd start with Optmyzr. It specifically has tools for:

• Non-converting keywords — identify keywords spending money without producing conversions. help.optmyzr.com
• Expensive keywords — flag keywords with excessive CPA or enough clicks/spend to reasonably expect a conversion. help.optmyzr.com
• Search-term waste — identify irrelevant/non-converting queries and add negatives automatically. www.optmyzr.comwww.optmyzr.com
• Budget drains — monitor pacing, forecast spend, and identify campaigns where budget should be reallocated. www.optmyzr.com
• PMax waste — identify expensive placements that aren't producing conversions. help.optmyzr.com
• Automated rules — continuously apply your own "if spend > X and conversions = 0" type logic. www.optmyzr.comwww.optmyzr.com

Adalysis is the one I'd test alongside it if your priority is more specifically "give me an audit and tell me what's wrong." Its search-term/n-gram analysis is particularly useful for finding clusters of queries that are consuming spend without converting. docs.adalysis.com

If I were auditing an account

I'd want the software to produce something roughly like:

1. $ spent with 0 conversions
2. Keywords/search terms above target CPA
3. Keywords with lots of clicks but statistically insufficient conversion performance
4. Search queries that should become negative keywords
5. Campaigns consuming disproportionate budget
6. Campaigns limited by budget but actually profitable
7. Budget that could be moved from poor → strong campaigns
8. PMax placements/search themes generating questionable traffic
9. Sudden spend/CPA deterioration
10. Duplicate/cannibalizing keywords

That makes Optmyzr + Adalysis a particularly strong combination: Optmyzr is more compelling for ongoing optimization and budget automation, while Adalysis is excellent for deep account auditing and alerts. adalysis.comwww.optmyzr.com

If you tell me your monthly Google Ads spend and whether it's Search, PMax, Shopping, or a mix, I can narrow this down to the best tool for your account size and likely ROI.

If your main goal is finding budget drains and poor-performing keywords/search terms, I’d shortlist these:

1. Optmyzr — best overall

Probably my first choice for a serious Google Ads account.

• Finds high-cost / non-converting keywords
• Identifies wasted search-term spend and recommends negatives
• Audits Quality Score, ad relevance, landing-page performance, and account structure
• Has budget pacing and overspend alerts
• Can automate rules such as pausing expensive/non-converting keywords
• Particularly good if you manage multiple campaigns/accounts. www.optmyzr.com

Best for: agencies, sophisticated advertisers, and accounts spending enough that optimization software pays for itself.

2. Adalysis — best for automated auditing

If you want something that essentially says "here's what's wrong with this account", Adalysis is excellent.

It runs 100+ configurable audits and specifically flags underperforming keywords, search terms, locations and placements, as well as sudden spend increases and conversion declines. adalysis.com

Its free audit is also useful for getting a quick read on wasted spend before committing to anything. adalysis.com

Best for: PPC managers who want continuous monitoring and actionable alerts without building everything themselves.

3. Google Ads + your own analysis — best value

If the account isn't huge, you may not need another platform. The most important reports are:

• Search terms: spend with zero/low conversions → negative keyword candidates
• Keywords: high cost + poor CPA/ROAS
• Campaign budget: campaigns constrained by budget vs. campaigns consuming budget inefficiently
• Search impression share lost to budget
• Quality Score: particularly low ad relevance / expected CTR / landing-page experience
• Location, device, hour/day: pockets of spend with poor conversion rates

The trick is to distinguish "expensive but valuable" from "expensive and wasteful." Simply pausing keywords with no conversions can kill keywords that haven't accumulated enough data.

My recommendation

For your specific use case, I'd start with Adalysis if the immediate need is an audit, and Optmyzr if you want an ongoing optimization system. Adalysis is especially focused on surfacing wasted spend and prioritizing issues; Optmyzr goes further into search-term/keyword analysis and automated optimization. www.optmyzr.comadalysis.com

If you tell me monthly Google Ads spend + lead gen vs. ecommerce + number of campaigns, I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 options and explain what each would actually catch in your account.

If your main goal is finding budget drains and bad/expensive keywords in Google Ads, I’d shortlist these:

My pick: Adalysis

For the specific problem you described, Adalysis is probably the first one I'd test.

It has automated audits for underperforming keywords, search terms, locations and placements, plus custom alerts. Its search-term/n-gram analysis is particularly useful for finding queries that generate lots of clicks/spend but few or no conversions. adalysis.com

It also has a free Google Ads audit that specifically reports wasted spend, including poorly converting keywords, segments and landing pages. adalysis.com

Run the free Adalysis audit

Pick Optmyzr if you want it to act on the findings

Optmyzr is stronger if you're managing a sizable account or multiple accounts and don't just want a diagnostic report.

It can identify expensive keywords, including keywords with unusually high CPA or substantial clicks without conversions, and can automate rules around bids, budgets and negative keywords. help.optmyzr.com

Its current budget tooling can also recommend reallocating budget between campaigns based on CPA, conversions, conversion value, ROAS, etc., and lets you put guardrails around automated changes. help.optmyzr.com

Optmyzr budget management

Pick Opteo for a lighter-weight "watch my account" solution

Opteo is attractive if you mainly want an automated watchdog. It monitors for overspending/underspending, sudden cost increases and other performance anomalies and can send alerts to Slack. opteo.com

Opteo Google Ads alerts

Bottom line:

• Want to discover exactly where you're wasting money? → Adalysis
• Want discovery + sophisticated automated optimization? → Optmyzr
• Want simple ongoing monitoring/alerts? → Opteo

If you tell me your monthly Google Ads spend, number of campaigns, and whether you're running Search/PMax/Shopping, I can narrow this down to the best option for your account—and tell you what I would configure it to flag first.

If your main goal is “scan my Google Ads account and tell me where money is leaking”, I’d shortlist these:

1. Optmyzr — my first choice

If you're managing a meaningful amount of spend, Optmyzr is probably the closest match to what you're describing.

It can identify:

• Expensive/non-converting keywords
• Wasted search-term spend
• Negative-keyword opportunities
• Campaigns that are overspending or underspending
• Budget allocation opportunities
• Keywords that deserve higher/lower bids
• Search terms that look relevant but have poor intent
• Budget pacing and projected overspend

Its budget tools specifically analyze where budget is unlikely to be fully spent and suggest reallocating it toward campaigns with stronger performance potential. www.optmyzr.com

It also has automated keyword/search-query optimization and customizable rules, so you can go beyond simply finding problems and have it continually flag or fix them. www.optmyzr.com

Optmyzr

I'd choose this if: you're spending $10k+/month, have multiple campaigns/accounts, or want ongoing automated monitoring rather than a one-time audit.

2. Adalysis — best if keyword waste is the primary problem

Adalysis is particularly good at answering:

“Which search queries are eating money without producing results?”

Its search-term tools automatically surface expensive underperformers, potential negative keywords, converting search terms that should become keywords, duplicate search terms, and problematic n-grams. docs.adalysis.comdocs.adalysis.comwww.optmyzr.com

The n-gram analysis is particularly useful because it can uncover patterns such as:

“free” → $1,200 spend → 0 conversions
“jobs” → $800 spend → 0 conversions
“cheap” → $650 spend → terrible CPA

rather than forcing you to inspect thousands of individual queries.

It also has automated alerts/actions for adding keywords and negatives. docs.adalysis.comdocs.adalysis.comwww.optmyzr.com

Adalysis

I'd choose this if: your biggest concern is keyword/search-term waste, especially in Search campaigns.

3. Semrush — good complementary tool

Semrush is stronger for keyword research and competitive intelligence than for actually auditing an existing account's wasted spend.

It can help identify competitors' keywords, search opportunities, duplicate/cross-group keywords, and negative-keyword opportunities. www.semrush.com

Semrush

I wouldn't buy Semrush specifically for the problem you described, though.

My recommendation

If you want one piece of software to plug into the account and get an audit, I'd go:

Optmyzr → best overall

Adalysis → best specifically for keyword/search-term waste

And there's an important distinction: don't just look for “poor-performing keywords.” A sophisticated audit should identify at least these five types of waste:

1. Non-converting search terms consuming significant spend
2. Keywords with CPA/ROAS materially worse than account targets
3. Search terms that should be negative keywords
4. Campaigns consuming budget despite having poor marginal returns
5. Good campaigns constrained by budget while poor campaigns have available budget

Optmyzr is particularly strong on #4–5, while Adalysis is excellent at #1–3. docs.adalysis.comdocs.adalysis.comwww.optmyzr.com

If you tell me your approximate monthly Google Ads spend (e.g. $5k, $50k, $500k) and whether it's Search, PMax, Shopping, or a mix, I can tell you which one I'd actually buy and what I'd configure it to flag.

If your main goal is “scan the account, find where money is leaking, and surface bad keywords/search terms”, I’d shortlist these:

1. Optmyzr — my first choice

For what you're describing, Optmyzr is probably the strongest fit. Its audit system can flag structural and performance problems, while its keyword tools specifically identify non-converting keywords, expensive keywords, low-quality-score keywords, and wasted search terms. www.optmyzr.comhelp.optmyzr.com

Particularly useful:

• Negative Keyword Finder — finds words/search terms that are costing you money without producing conversions. help.optmyzr.comadalysis.comadalysis.com
• Pause Non-Converting Keywords — identifies keywords that have accumulated enough traffic without converting. www.optmyzr.comhelp.optmyzr.com
• Find Expensive Keywords — identifies keywords with unusually high CPA or significant spend without conversions. help.optmyzr.com
• Search Term N-Grams — useful for finding entire themes of queries that are wasting budget, rather than reviewing them one at a time. help.optmyzr.com
• PPC Investigator — helps determine what actually caused a performance change, down to campaign/ad group/keyword level. help.optmyzr.com

It also has audits for things like campaigns losing impression share to budget, negative-keyword gaps/conflicts, high-cost/low-quality-score ad groups, and keyword performance. help.optmyzr.com

2. Adalysis — excellent alternative

Adalysis is especially compelling if you want a system that's constantly watching the account. It has 100+ prebuilt alerts plus customizable checks, including underperforming keywords, search terms, locations and placements. adalysis.com

Its keyword analysis is also directly aligned with your use case: it can surface underperforming search terms that are wasting budget without conversions and help identify new positive/negative keywords. adalysis.com

What I'd choose

• One-time/deep audit: Optmyzr
• Ongoing PPC management for multiple accounts: Optmyzr or Adalysis
• Simple Google Ads optimization: Opteo
• Agency managing lots of accounts: Optmyzr, particularly because of its customizable audits and automation.

One important distinction: don't just look for a tool that says “keyword has no conversions.” A good waste-spend scanner should account for spend relative to CPA, conversion volume, search-term intent, match type, campaign/ad-group context, and statistical significance. Otherwise you'll end up pausing keywords that simply haven't accumulated enough data.

If you tell me Google Ads vs. Microsoft Ads, monthly spend, and whether you're an agency or managing one account, I can narrow this down to the best 1–2 options and tell you exactly what rules I'd configure to find the budget drains.

If your goal is specifically “find where my Google Ads budget is leaking and tell me which keywords/search terms are hurting performance,” I’d shortlist these:

1. Optmyzr — my pick

Optmyzr

This is probably the closest match to what you're describing. Its tools can identify:

• Keywords spending heavily without conversions
• Keywords with unusually high CPA
• Non-converting keywords that have accumulated enough clicks
• Low-quality-score keywords
• Irrelevant search queries that should become negative keywords
• Search terms that are converting but aren't yet keywords
• Changes responsible for sudden increases in spend or decreases in conversions

Its PPC Investigator can actually trace performance changes down to campaigns, ad groups, keywords, placements, devices, etc. help.optmyzr.comhelp.optmyzr.com

It also has a Rule Engine that lets you turn your criteria into recurring optimization rules. help.optmyzr.com

I'd choose this if: you're managing a serious account and want the software to continuously surface actionable waste rather than just generate an audit PDF.

2. Adalysis — best for a quick account audit

Adalysis

Adalysis is particularly good if you want to connect an account and quickly answer “where are we wasting money?”

Its audit looks at poorly converting keywords, search terms, locations, placements, landing pages, sudden spend increases, conversion drops, Quality Score, and account structure. It has 100+ prebuilt alerts plus customizable checks. adalysis.com

I'd choose this if: you're auditing an account for a client, doing an account cleanup, or want a strong visual/reporting layer.

3. Don't overlook Google's own Search Terms report

You can do a surprisingly good version of this for free inside Google Ads.

Google explicitly recommends using the Search Terms report to identify queries that are irrelevant or poorly performing and turn them into negative keywords. support.google.com

The limitation is that you have to do much more of the analysis yourself. Tools like Optmyzr automate the tedious part—e.g., finding words and queries that are repeatedly associated with expensive, non-converting traffic. help.optmyzr.com

What I'd actually use

For a $10k+/month Google Ads account, I'd probably go:

Optmyzr → Search Terms + Negative Keyword Finder → Expensive Keywords → Non-Converting Keywords → PPC Investigator → automated rules

Then use Google Ads itself for final validation before making significant changes.

One important caveat: don't blindly pause every keyword with zero conversions. A keyword with $200 spend and zero conversions is very different from one with $200 spend when the campaign's normal CPA is $150. Relative performance and sufficient click/conversion volume matter. Optmyzr's expensive-keyword logic is useful here because it compares performance against the campaign's typical behavior rather than applying a simplistic “zero conversions = bad” rule. help.optmyzr.comhelp.optmyzr.com

If you tell me your monthly ad spend (e.g. $5k, $25k, $100k+) and whether it's Google Search, PMax, or both, I can narrow this down to the 2–3 tools I'd actually pay for.

If your main goal is finding budget drains and poor-performing keywords in Google Ads, I’d shortlist these:

My pick: Adalysis

If you said “I want to connect my Google Ads account and immediately see where I'm wasting money”, I'd start with Adalysis.

Its audit system is unusually well aligned with that specific job: it flags underperforming keywords/search terms, sudden spend increases, conversion drops, and budget issues, and ranks problems by urgency. adalysis.com

If instead you manage large/multiple accounts and want the software to actually optimize them—budget reallocation, rules, bid management, automation, etc.—I'd lean toward Optmyzr. It can identify costly/low-performing search terms and automate keyword/search-term management, while its budget tools can recommend reallocations based on ROAS, CPA, conversions, or conversion value. www.optmyzr.com

Price is also a meaningful difference: third-party software listings currently put Adalysis around $126/month starting price versus roughly $389/month for Optmyzr, though pricing can vary by account size/plan. www.capterra.com

If I were auditing an account, I'd want the tool to surface these 7 things

1. Keywords spending money with zero conversions
2. Keywords with CPA materially above target
3. Search terms that should be negative keywords
4. Broad-match queries producing irrelevant traffic
5. Campaigns consuming disproportionate budget with poor ROAS
6. High-spend / low-Quality-Score keywords
7. Budget being allocated to campaigns with worse marginal returns

For that exact workflow, Adalysis is probably the best first tool to test; Optmyzr is the better choice if you want a full PPC optimization/automation platform.

If you tell me your monthly Google Ads spend (e.g. $10k, $50k, $500k+) and whether you're running Search only or also PMax, I can narrow it down to the best 2–3 options for your situation.